Sunday, June 11, 2017

THE LATEST TERROR

Edison working on kinetograph.

Thomas Edison demonstrates the kinetograph with the assistance of George Eastman.

Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday,
April 11, 1894.

THE LATEST TERROR.

If Thomas A. Edison finishes, as he expects to,
his latest invention, then life will be less worth living than ever. The device
is nothing less than a machine which can take 46 photographs in a second. Forty-six
times a second is about as rapidly as any living thing can change its muscular
movements, so that the new machine will make a succession of pictures of a man
as fast as he can make motions, whether walking or trying to catch a train that
just glides off as he comes within 25 feet of it, panting and puffing. What is
more, the demoniacal new Edison machine will have a phonograph attachment. This
will register the words the man who is left will pour forth in a torrent on the
air as he sees the train disappear. It will mercilessly record every wheeze of
his scant breath as it gurgles forth from his surcharged breast.

After that the sly dime museum man who has
snapped a kodak on him will make a reproduction of the whole humiliating scene,
naughty words and all, and put it into a nickel-in-the-slot machine. The rustic
visitor in the railway station or ferry house will drop a nickel in the slot,
and, behold! there will be Mr. Fatman, in all his humiliation and despair, in
the very act of relieving his mind by the worst words he knows.

Nobody will be safe when the new Edison
kinetograph, as he calls it, is on the market. The tenderest partings of lovers,
the old man's fiendish chuckle when he sets the dog on the unwelcome suitor,
the very expression and language of my lady when she narrates the private affairs
of her dearest friend to a woman who doesn't like her friend, will be there with
pitiless fidelity, as Edison says, "a hundred years after one is
dead." We can never know when the kinetograph fiend is on our track.

Forty-six photographs a second will reproduce
as many motions as the eye can follow. These photographs, being set in motion
one after the other by a well understood mechanical arrangement and focused on
exactly the same level, will produce the effect of a continuous panorama. The
phonograph accompanying the moving scene will enable science to reproduce
perfectly and preserve a whole theatrical play, opera or dinner party. That is
Edison's idea.

Japan's
New Constitution.

In spite of the glowing hopes based on its
adoption, all is not lovely by any means
under Japan's new constitution. That country is having something like the same
kind of trouble as now disturbs England. Already since the adoption of the new
constitution the Japanese parliament has been twice dissolved by the emperor.
Like the house of commons, the lower house of the Japanese parliament insists
that its will is the will of the people. The Japanese commons undertakes to
rule the whole empire. The emperor gave the people a constitution voluntarily.
It was not forced from him, as most constitutions have been from rulers. In
that document the powers of the lower house were distinctly set forth.

During the past winter the lower house found
the emperor's cabinet distasteful to it for some reason. It therefore attacked that
body and made matters very warm for the members with the intention of forcing
them to resign. The intention was to have them replaced by an imperial advisory
council more subservient to the commons.

The emperor, however, frustrated this amiable
intention at once by using the powers conferred on him by the new constitution and
summarily dissolving parliament. Legislation is stopped until a new parliament
can be elected. It would be rather strange if the condition of Japan should
turn out to be worse than it was before she had a constitution.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

Another
"Small Election."

Another of the "small elections" which
are forming such picturesque and impressive episodes in the politics of the country
happened yesterday in that Gibraltar of the Democracy, the city of Albany. Two
years ago James H. Manning, Democrat, was elected major by about 6,000
majority. Yesterday Oren F. Wilson, Republican, was elected mayor by about
3,500 majority! A Republican board of supervisors was secured for the county,
and to the board of aldermen of the Capital city nine Republicans are returned,
along with seven independent Democrats and three regular Democrats. Last year
the board was strongly Democratic.

A Cleveland machine of the most perfect construction,
which could give points to anything of the Hill variety, controlled the city,
but since the cyclone struck it the fragments are so small as to be worthless
even for a political junk shop. The opposition to the machine embraced the
Republicans of the city, the mugwumps, workingmen, and Hill Democrats, united
under the banner of "honest elections." The combination had the advantage—which
the opposition to ring rule in Troy did not—of a fair election law, and the
remains of bossism and fraudulent election machinery cleaving the political sky
are the results. Boss Judge Herrick is pulverised and a good lesson taught Democratic
judges who seek to prostitute their influence and position to the uses and the
profit of election frauds. A turnover of 9,500 in one Democratic city in one
year is something —but next fall's elections will witness results still more
surprising.

The
Assembly and Hon. B. P. Lee.

A prominent Albany correspondent of New York
City and other papers writes us as follows:

"What about the record?' I asked Assemblyman [Benjamin F.] Lee of Cortland to-day. 'The
Republican legislature,' he said, 'is making a record it can safely appeal to
the state on next fall. It is an admirable record. There have been no questionable
political jobs, no steals, no extravagant appropriations. On every question
involving morals and good citizenship the Republicans have stood squarely on
the right side. They have repealed the vicious legislation fastened upon
Buffalo, Albany, Troy and Westchester last year by the Democrats, and the party
has been greatly strengthened in those localities because of it. The next
legislature will be Republican with as large a majority as this one is.'

"A word might appropriately be said right
here relative to Cortland's assemblyman. The STANDARD should pin it fast in the
memory of Cortland people that it required a representative of no mean ability
and influence to get an extra appropriation for the Normal school this year,
but Mr. Lee got a $14,000 one all the same. Appropriations have been cut on all
sides and many assemblymen will go home to their constituents empty-handed. The
need of economy is great and Mr. Lee's successful effort to have Cortland's famous
institution of learning generously remembered is doubtless appreciated by
Cortland people, in the county as well as in the village. Mr. Lee is one of the
most popular and cleanest men in the house.

"Assemblyman Lee's bill for making the
insurance on Normal school buildings available at once in case of fire is a
good one, and has become a law."

NOT TO BE
TAKEN BACK.

Sophomore
Taylor Was Dropped For Poor Scholarship.

ITHACA, N. Y., April 11.—Sophomore Taylor of
chlorine fame will not be reinstated in the university. He was not dropped for
suspected complicity in the chlorine case but for poor scholarship, and it can
be stated on authority of President
Schurman that there is no chance of his being taken back.

There will probably be no new developments in
the chlorine case until April 24 when Judge Forbes will reconvene court. He has
written to the district attorney that he will take no steps until that time,
allowing Judge Smith to bear the responsibility he has assumed.

Strikers
Beat the Guards.

UNIONTOWN, Pa., April 11.—A mob of strikers
raided Frick's works this morning, captured and beat seventy men and guards, and
destroyed considerable property.

Clark & Cox's spectacular pantomime
"Ben Hur" opened its three nights performance at the Opera House last
evening. The house was only partially filled, but those who were fortunate enough
to attend were highly entertained by the excellent pantomime of the famous oriental
novel. The fact that it was to be given under the auspices of the Young
People's society of Grace church was enough to warrant the fact that it would
be an entertainment of high character, but those who attended the opening performance
last evening were greatly surprised at the magnificence of the spectacle. It was
something entirely new and there was a wonderful fascination in the elegant
scenery and costumes, graceful dances, statuary, mechanical and calcium light
effects. It seems incredible that this wonderful novel can be clearly
interpreted, but it was done last night.

Mr. W. E. Wood impersonated Ben Hur in a clear,
forcible manner which showed careful and conscientious study of the character.
His interpretation was superior to anything of the kind ever given in Cortland.

Messala was impersonated by Mr. L. E.
Edgcomb. His ability in this kind of acting was well brought out in the fifth scene
in which he taunts Ben Hur and they quarrel and part. He also handled the part
of Melchoir very creditably.

Mr. T. H. Dowd took the parts of Balthazar
and Thord in a manner which proved that he was as much at home in a pantomime
as he was in the various other entertainments in which he has previously won a
reputation.

Mr. F. B. Harrington impersonated Arrius and
the procurator Valerius Gratus. He made a fall when the latter character was
struck by a tile falling from the Hur house in scene seven, which would have done
credit to a professional.

The beautiful character of Esther as interpreted
by Miss March Lamb could not have been bettered, while Miss Belle Atkinson as
Iras in her failure to charm the hero and her subsequent intrigues with Messala
to destroy him could hardly have been better acted.

Each of the other characters were in the
hands of competent local talent and were executed with a clearness which it would
have been hard to equal.

The march of the Roman soldiers and the
various dances, the Butterfly, Priestesses,the Naiad drill, Tambourine, Black Birds and Gondolier dances were all
performed without an error. The dance "Candida Pax" by Misses Lizzie Phillips,
Ruth Carpenter, and Mary R. Mahan was one of the finest on the program. The
little tots went through the dainty little blackbird and butterfly dances,
which would puzzle the older ones to execute. In these charming dances and
drills was shown an abundant variety of gorgeous costumes which when the dancer
posed helped to make the beautiful pictures even more striking. The general
effect was certainly a marvelous combination of beautiful maidens, harmonious colors
and stately soldiers.

The scenery is almost beyond the powers of
description. It was among the most elaborate, beautiful and harmonious ever
shown before on the Cortland Opera House stage. It was historically correct and
alone was worth many times the price of admission. Twenty full sets of oriental
scenes, painted expressly for the production of this piece were shown besides the
closing allegory, "Iras' Dream of the Nile," which it would be hard
to excel even in the large cities.

The statuary was another strong feature and
the poses of Misses Harriet Allen, Cora Wells and Margaret Danforth were
perfect.

The audience was intensely enthusiastic throughout
the entire performance but it reached a climax, when after Mr. W. F. Seacord
had recited the chariot race, the drop was drawn up and disclosed the
principals lashing their horses as if surely "The souls of the racers were
in it."

Nearly every seat has been sold for this
evening's performance and the most desirable for to-morrow night are going rapidly.
The piece should be seen to be appreciated, as it is almost beyond the power of
pen to do it justice.

DECORATION
DAY.

An
Innovation by Volney Baker Post, G. A. R.

TRUXTON, N. Y., April 10.

Volney Baker Post, G. A. R. of Truxton propose
to introduce a new feature in their next Decoration day exercises. They will
give prizes to the pupils of the public schools of the towns of Cuyler, Truxton
and the northern part of Homer for the best oration, essay and declaration of a
patriotic nature, delivered Decoration day. These prizes will be for the best
oration, a gold medal; for the best essay, a large American flag; for the best
declamation or second best essay, a valuable book. No school will be allowed to
carry away more than one prize. The post reserves the right to select one
judge. The competitors will select another, and those two judges will select
the third. Worthy pupils not gaining prizes will receive honorable mention.

ALEXANDER LANSING,

Commander, Volney Baker Post.

BREVITIES.

"WOULD BE WELCOME."

How welcome would the flakelets be

That hurry from the sky;

Could we but pickle snowballs, and

Consume them in July.

—Washington Star.

—Is this gentle spring?

—Mrs.
Kate E. Jones of Ilion, department president of the W. R. C., has been engaged
to deliver the Decoration day address in Cortland this year.

—The regular assembly of the encampment of
Union Veteran legion occurs Thursday evening of this week, April 12. Several comrades
are expected for muster.

—The new morning daily paper soon to be
issued in Syracuse will be published in connection with The Herald, and will in reality be a morning edition of that paper,
though having another name.

—The charity ball in the new store of Dey
Brothers in Syracuse last night was a great success. There were over 2,000
visitors at the ball and of these about 1,000 were dancers. Supper tickets to the
number of 1,425 were sold before 11 o'clock. It is believed that over $2,400
will be cleared.

—At 8:55 o'clock this morning the fire bell
sounded one stroke. As that was the only one that came in it was decided that
the line was broken some where. Janitor Bickford located the break some where
in the southern part of the town. After a three hours tramp through the snow he
found that an insulated wire was broken on the corner of Main and Union-sts.
The break was repaired.

—Mr. Orlando Barber, who lived on the hill
east of the county house, died at 3 o'clock this morning as a result of complications
proceeding from the grip, with which he had been suffering all winter. He was 63
years old. He leaves a widow, two sons Adelbert and Perry Barber of Cortland
and one daughter, Mrs. B. H. Bosworth of Cortland. The funeral will be held on
Saturday morning at 10 o'clock.

Tea
Table Talk.

In the performance of "In Old Kentucky"
at a theatre in Rochester Monday night there is a horse race. One of the horses
used which was hired from a local stable became excited at the noise and glare
of the lights and, rushing forward to the footlights, leaped over into the
orchestra, landing with two feet in the bass drum. His hoofs cut the electric
wire which feeds the footlights and blinding flashes lit the scene of confusion
in the orchestra, but no one was seriously injured.